A strong wind blew against her face, and Lady Liu slowly sat down against the wall.
The porridge hadn’t even been touched.
Before losing consciousness, Lady Liu breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t want to know things she shouldn’t know; being sealed at her pressure points was better than losing her life.
In her blurry state, Lady Liu couldn’t help but wonder what the “Dragon Vein” that the man with the bamboo hat mentioned was. Of course, she couldn’t guess the truth. Normal people wouldn’t immediately think of the Dragon Vein that feng shui masters speak of; they would assume it’s just someone’s name that sounds like that.
Lady Liu fainted while holding the bowl. The man with the bamboo hat sneered slightly, “The National Teacher is quite considerate of Fei’s subordinates.”
When Meng Qi heard the words “Dragon Vein,” his expression turned sour. He subtly shook his head towards Mo Li, signaling that it wasn’t the right time to act.
A person who knows about the Dragon Vein.
Or perhaps, not even a person—what exactly is he trying to do? Is it really just to restore his country?
Having seen Zhao Cangfeng, that Ancestor Qingwu, who on the surface seemed obsessed with rebellion but in reality wanted to sever the Dragon Vein and become immortal, Mo Li felt that he really couldn’t figure out these people with “great ambitions.”
Meng Qi looked at the empty porridge bowl in his hand and raised his voice, “I heard that you come from Fei Ting’s department, and you’re a disciple of the Secret King of Magadha Temple?”
Throwing out the words “Dragon Vein,” did he think they would panic and eagerly ask questions?
Meng Qi deliberately ignored the man’s mention of the “Dragon Vein,” as if he hadn’t heard it at all.
Upon hearing this, the man with the bamboo hat glanced at Lady Liu, who was slumped in the corner.
Swordsman Su Li knew nothing about his identity, so the only one left who could have revealed this information was Lady Liu.
But Meng Qi already knew about the Xiliang people’s plans, so their background wasn’t important anymore.
“Old matters, not worth mentioning.” The man with the bamboo hat stood on the roof, showing no intention of coming down.
The situation became even more strange, as Mo Li stared coldly at the ceiling, while Meng Qi toyed with the empty bowl in his hand. For a top master, anything—leaves, flowers, tiles, tables, bowls—could become a lethal weapon in a fight.
Meng Qi didn’t speak, and the man with the bamboo hat didn’t bring it up either. The air inside and outside the house gradually became stagnant, pressing heavily on everyone’s chest. Even the unconscious Lady Liu couldn’t help but start gasping for breath.
Mo Li once again felt the changes in the spiritual energy and suddenly realized that their reactions, under the overwhelming pressure of spiritual energy, were too unusual.
Birds, beasts, plants, and even people would all feel discomfort from the sudden surge of spiritual energy, especially since this wasn’t naturally gathered energy but rather concentrated in a very small space, making it even more dangerous. This wasn’t internal energy; it affected everyone. However, when top masters face such a situation, what kind of reaction would be considered normal?
Is it turning blue from lack of breath, or a pounding heart and internal energy backlash? Mo Li had no idea.
He only remembered that he held his breath in shock for a moment, but beyond that, there was no discomfort, and neither did Meng Qi.
In the eyes of the man with the bamboo hat, this might have already been a flaw.
A non-human… flaw.
Mo Li also thought of the swordsman. When Meng Qi questioned the man with the bamboo hat about his unique internal energy, the swordsman seemed completely unaware of it.
——the swordsman couldn’t sense the presence of spiritual energy and didn’t feel any discomfort because he possessed innate spiritual energy. In some ways, the swordsman was also different from ordinary people.
From this, it’s likely that the man with the bamboo hat immediately recognized the swordsman’s extraordinary nature, which is why he saved him.
The swordsman had seen the man with the bamboo hat before he even knew martial arts, and even though he later became a top master, he had long grown accustomed to this strange sensation. As an assassin who rarely ventured into the martial world, he hadn’t encountered masters of the same level, so he assumed the pressure exerted by the man with the bamboo hat was merely the overwhelming force of a top master’s internal energy.
Such a swordsman was unlikely to tell Mo Li or Meng Qi anything more.
Mo Li suddenly figured out many things and understood why the man with the bamboo hat abruptly mentioned the Dragon Vein. It was because he and Meng Qi had shown a flaw, which aroused the other’s suspicion.
It was too late to realize it now, and even knowing this, in that situation, there was no room for them to feign unconsciousness or retreat to avoid confrontation.
Mo Li glanced at Meng Qi with a hint of anxiety.
Just one look, and he calmed down.
The two exchanged glances, understanding each other.
——What Mo Li could think of, Meng Qi could as well.
The concern now was how much the man with the bamboo hat actually knew about the Dragon Vein.
Had he really seen the “Dragon Vein,” or was he half-informed, like the delusional Qingwu Ancestor?
Mo Li vaguely felt that it might just be… the former.
The elusive kindred spirits, the spiritually rich Feihe Mountain, a fetus that almost miscarried in the womb…
Could these incidents have nothing to do with the man on the roof?
“You’ve come here twice today uninvited, playing the role of an unwelcome guest without even giving your name, leaving me to find out on my own. And now you claim that the past isn’t worth mentioning… Ha, if the pain of a lost country and the grudge of Magadha Temple’s defeat could be brushed aside so easily, then why do you still seek to restore your nation? Why are you still standing on the roof, hesitating to leave?”
The man with the bamboo hat listened to Meng Qi’s sarcastic remarks without getting angry.
“All things are empty; names are but illusions. I have indeed forgotten over the years. My name is Ayanpuka, but my tribe also has the custom of adopting Han surnames. You can call me Fei Pu.”
The kingdom of Xiliang had no written script of its own, though it did have a language, with slight variations between tribes. Unfortunately, the word “Ayanpuka” was one Meng Qi didn’t understand at all.
Though names on the grasslands beyond the border were often repeated, they usually served as clues. For the man with the bamboo hat to raise the banner of restoring his country, to be regarded as a leader by people like Shopkeeper Sun and Registrar Li, he must have a legitimate identity to back him up.
A disciple of the Secret King? That wasn’t enough!
Even though the monks of Magadha Temple held high status, a National Teacher wasn’t the same as an emperor.
To become king, there had to be some blood connection to the royal family.
If none existed, one could fabricate one, or impersonate a royal descendant. For example, the real “Ayanpuka” did exist, but it wasn’t the man standing before them.
As they spoke, that uncomfortable pressure returned once more.
“Hmph.” Meng Qi sneered. Was he trying the same old trick again?
Ayanpuka suddenly sensed a hidden force coming from below, instinctively raising his body. A violet light pierced through the gaps in the tiles, disappearing soundlessly after cutting through the air. The tiles, lifted by the gust of wind, fell back one by one, leaving the roof surprisingly intact.
That sword wasn’t aimed to wound.
The concentrated spiritual energy was forcefully split apart by the sword’s edge, rapidly dispersing to both sides.
——Meng Qi couldn’t control the spiritual energy outside of Shangyun Mountain, but he could destroy it.
A breach was made in the surrounding spiritual energy, and the once-reluctant spiritual energy now showed signs of falling apart.
Ayanpuka didn’t attempt to gather the spiritual energy again. Instead, he let it disperse swiftly as he landed in the courtyard, a strange smile appearing on the face hidden under the bamboo hat.
“Dragon Vein…”
He seemed to be talking to himself, but the tone of his voice carried the meaning of a treasure hunter deep in the mountains, a hunter chasing after wild beasts, who had finally discovered his prize at that moment.
Ayanpuka’s eyes darted back and forth between Meng Qi and Mo Li, but for some reason, he ultimately fixed his gaze firmly on Mo Li.
The same clothes, when worn by Meng Qi, exuded distinction and grace, while on Mo Li, they felt like a clear spring in a mountain stream or a solitary pine on a cliff.
Without words or movement, he became a landscape unto himself.
Meng Qi: “…”
Though being ignored, what surged more was his anger.
He stepped forward and directly blocked Ayanpuka’s line of sight.
“Teacher Meng, you once commanded tens of thousands of troops, making great contributions to the Chu Dynasty, a man who was undoubtedly from the military ranks. In your youth, you learned mostly horseback skills, yet when it comes to capturing enemies and battlefield prowess, you are inferior to many of your peers.”
Ayanpuka was the first to speak, but his tone was filled with a strange connotation.
Meng Qi paused, squinting at him.
Meng Qi vaguely sensed that Ayanpuka seemed to have misunderstood something.
“…Such a general, who was repeatedly entrusted by Emperor Chu Yuan to guard the grain routes, unexpectedly ended up with a position that no one could have predicted after the founding of the nation.”
Teacher.
Neither a monk nor a believer of Taoism, wasn’t that odd?
“People say that the Chu Dynasty was dissatisfied with the severe land annexations by monasteries and Taoist temples, so they appointed a trusted confidant as the new dynasty’s Teacher. On one hand, he oversaw the Department of Astronomy, handling the calendar and rituals to prevent anyone from deceiving the public with heresies. On the other hand, he conducted thorough investigations into the lands owned by temples and monasteries. If illegal activities were found, they would be held accountable, and the wealth and lands would be confiscated. Monks and Taoists were ordered to return to secular life and labor in the fields. They say that although Teacher Meng thus distanced himself from the power struggles of the court, standing firm in the whirlpool, he also remained alone without wife or children, his achievements not even recorded in history.” Ayanpuka suddenly changed his tone, as if revealing a hidden secret, and sneered, “But the truth behind all this is quite different.”
Meng Qi: “…”
There was indeed a hidden story, aside from his unwillingness to marry a “person” and his constant refusal of matchmaking offers from friends and his lord. Perhaps it was simply laziness.
As the Teacher, he didn’t have to attend court sessions.
He could also, under the pretext of research, openly read all kinds of “unorthodox” books and stay in the library without anyone criticizing him. After all, the Daozang had tens of thousands of volumes, difficult to comprehend.
If Marquis Leyang Zhu Yan were still alive, Meng Qi believed that securing the Teacher position wouldn’t have been so easy for him.
“You searched through the Qi Dynasty’s texts and the many scriptures and Daozang volumes you collected, looking for the existence and whereabouts of the Dragon Vein.”
In fact, he was studying martial arts and checking secret manuals.
But if one were to say it was for finding the Dragon Vein… well, that wasn’t entirely wrong, as Meng Qi had indeed spent considerable effort searching for other Dragon Veins.
Meng Qi’s expression turned icy, and his tone was harsh:
“It seems that your plan to restore the kingdom has been in the works for many years.”
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy to discover what books Meng Qi had studied in those days.
Ayanpuka smiled faintly: “To be honest, Teacher, even before the establishment of the Qi Dynasty, during the fall of the Chu Dynasty twenty years ago… Ah, Teacher, don’t be angry. You should know that the fall of the Chu Dynasty, like the fall of our Xiliang, was a result of the tides of history. At most, others added fuel to the fire, took advantage of the situation with little effort, but those who defy the heavens, like trying to stop a cart with their arms, will ultimately be crushed to pieces. Didn’t you yourself understand this truth and leave the court back then?”
Meng Qi, enraged, laughed bitterly: “Are you trying to say that you’ve already avenged your fallen kingdom, and now restoring Xiliang is the inevitable trend, and that those who stand in your way are doomed to die?”
“No.”
Ayanpuka stared straight at Mo Li and said coldly, “The demise of the Dragon Vein is the true trend of fate.”
Mo Li frowned.
This statement was strikingly similar to that of Qingwu Ancestor Zhao Cangfeng.
Meng Qi had the same thought and immediately mocked, “You’ve been spouting nonsense since earlier. What Dragon Vein? Do you also know Zhao Cangfeng?”
“Zhao Cangfeng is nothing more than a fool dreaming in broad daylight.” Ayanpuka laughed aloud, and Mo Li keenly observed him.
The eyes under the bamboo hat—were they not black?
Ayanpuka was highly vigilant. Before Mo Li could get a clear look, he raised his hand and pressed down on the brim of his hat.
“Whether or not I’m speaking nonsense, you two know best.”
Mo Li: “…” No, apart from knowing I’m the Dragon Vein, I don’t know anything else.
“Am I wrong? Zhao Cangfeng tried to sever the Dragon Vein to become immortal. He regarded the Dragon Vein as something intangible, but the Dragon Vein…”
Ayanpuka suddenly raised his hand and pointed at Mo Li behind Meng Qi.
“Isn’t there one right before my eyes?”
Mo Li’s heart trembled, and Meng Qi’s expression changed drastically.
Ayanpuka quickly continued, “Teacher Meng, there’s no need to conceal it anymore. As a general, you were never granted land or a title, you distanced yourself from power and buried yourself in books, and although you had no formal master, you acquired incredibly high martial skills. Later, you fled the capital and hid in Shangyun Mountain, only to reemerge with a changed appearance, looking younger, accompanied by a mysterious doctor… whose medical skills are miraculous, martial arts unfathomable, and origins unknown…”
With every word Ayanpuka spoke, Mo Li grew more confused, while Meng Qi gradually displayed a look of disbelief.
“Teacher Meng, you found the Dragon Vein.
“He is the Dragon Vein of Taijing.”
Meng Qi opened his mouth, momentarily stunned into rare silence.
Faced with Ayanpuka’s confident expression, Mo Li stared at the hand pointing at him, wanting to speak but hesitating.
No.
Why is it that all you rebels even managed to misidentify the Dragon Vein?
Author’s note:
No, seriously, why do all you villains have such wild imaginations?
Mo Li—always caught in the crossfire, never surpassed.
